long haired cat, awful matts, aggresive to brush

one of my cats is v long haired. Not the nice type either!She regularly drops lumps of hair round the house and recently has become really twitchy and i think its because she has some massive matts under her coat.Usually try to brush/cut worst ones out but she hates it and she bit so badly recently my dp had to visit minor injuries.She is a big outdoor cat and we live in countryside so we only see her every few days. Not ferile at all but not a house/lap cat.What can i do? Can i get her sedated and brushed? Would this cost alot? Could i get her clipped or would this be unfair to a outdoor cat? She looks so agitated with them

She will need doing as the matts pull on their skin. RSPCA May pay if you ask. Vets prefer to give them a general anasthetic as they can control it better than a sedative. My Persian had a general and sedative on different occasions. Lure into a cat basket with food.

We had one of our Maine Coones clipped at the vets a while ago: like yours he was an outdoor cat and just wouldn't tolerate grooming, though we did get him a bit more used to it over time. The vets were great, they were happy to help. I think our boy was sedated but not a GA, from memory. The current cats don't seem to have such tangly hair but grooming tolerance is varied!

I had a Ragdoll who wouldn't tolerate grooming, would turn into Freddy Kruger as soon as he saw the brush.

I used to book him in every March for de-matt under a GA. He would spend most of the year with bald/very short patches of fur and by the time his full coat came back in it would matt instantly so back to the vet to be shaved again!!!

The cat died unexpectedly in 2011 but I used to pay around £30-40 So prices may be different now. It was worth it though as the matts are painful when they pinch the skin, you could almost see the relief on his face when they were gone!!.

Reuben is a great fluffy oaf who is Not Keen on being groomed. We managed to snip most of last year's out by waiting till he was snoozing on someone's lap and occasional pin down tactics. We have one still to get but it is small.